Model, What?
by SupaNinja4Evah
Summary: What happens when you cross 2 models in a big time city with big time dreams and no regrets? A crazy SoraXKairi.
1. Chapter 1

Hey! new story coming at you. I sorta quit my other ones because there was no real inspiration. So now I'm doing a sort of biography of myself, with kairi instead of me. funfunfun. please r&r!

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What happens when you cross 2 models in a big time city with big time dreams and no regrets? You find yourself leaving behind everything that you know and breaking boundries far more dangerous than the ones you grew up with. This is my story.

"He has a rare form of lung cancer. We believe the cause was second-hand smoking," the drab lab suit wearing doctor told me, his face blank. I felt myself beginning to shake violently. No, this couldn't be happening! No. It wasn't. He couldn't have lung cancer. Mom smoked a lot sure, but no! HE DIDN'T DESERVE THIS! I didn't deserve this.

……………………………………………………………………………………………

"AHH SHIT! I'm gonna be late..I'm gonna be late…. I'm gonna fail my final and get beaten to death and kicked out of the house and be roaming the streets as a hopeless prostitute for the rest of my life! ARH!" I ran around my room frantically, throwing the first shirt/pants/bra/flip flops I could find onto my tall skinny body, and grabbed my hair clip while dashing into the bathroom. Mascara, moisturizer, toothpaste, deodorant, done. Skipping down the stairs three at a time, I sprinted out the door of my 2 story house in record time.

Today was finals. The very finals for junior year in the nasty, skank infested high school I had been prisoner to for three years of my life. Hallelujah. Skipping the run down car in the driveway, I took huge strides down the cracked sidewalk, which would get me to the school in half the time. The condo covered lawn came into view eventually and I sprinted over it into the deserted hallways of Bastion High. I came to a skidded stop in my first final, Social Sciences.

"Just on time, Kairi. Take your seat." I sat down in my graffiti engraved desk and the teacher passed out the test.

"FINALLY!" Yuffie cheered as we stepped out of AP Chemistry, the last final. "FREEDOM!" Yuffie, my spunky, athletic friend with short raven hair did a mini jig in the hallway as other students stared. They should be used to her daily dances by now, sheesh. We walked slowly down the hallway, and I nodded or smiled my fake smile to people I knew as we passed.

"I say we go for some ice cream, my treat," Yuffie said with a grin. "Ummm no thanks, sorry. I have to get home to start packing for my trip to Barbados. I'm leaving tomorrow," I said regretfully. Being gone for four weeks in some foreign country without my best friend was going to kill me.

"Awwww," Yuffie pouted. "Well that's ok. We can hang out afterwards, k?" I nodded. "See ya later!" I waved goodbye and ran out of the school. Finally, that year was over. I walked leisurely down the beach streets towards my shack of a house. It was one of the smallest ones in the town of Destiny, but that's probably because my parents didn't work worth shit. So screw them. Yeah, I pretty much hate my parents. My dad was a liar and wanted for fraud on his taxes, and he had abandoned me and my mom when I was 12 to go live with his rich girlfriend in North Destiny, the upstate version of our little town. But she's really old and boring, so it works out pretty good. Not like I wanted him around hitting me all yelling like the drunk fool he was all the time anyway.

That brings me to my mother. Hard worker I guess I would call her, mainly because if she heard me calling her anything but mother of the year, she would rant about all the things that I did wrong, and how I was more of a failure than she was. Then she would go cry. Emotional much? So I guess neither of my parents were ever really there for me. They both just thought about themselves. So it was up to me to take care of myself all my childhood, making me one independent and persistent kid.

I pulled the front door open, and slipped off my shoes. "I'm home.." I said to my empty house. Just in case my cats were expecting me or something. I grabbed an energy bar and trudged up the stairs to my bedroom. I was leaving for Barbados tomorrow for my mission trip with the church, and I had some serious packing to do.

Four hours later and I was STILL packing. Music blasted throughout the house from my stereo.

"_Strike up the band  
Oh, the conductor is beckoning  
Come, congregation, and let's sing it like you mean it  
No, don't you get it, don't you get it?  
Now don't you, don't you moveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"_

I sang enthusiastically to the music, bobbing my head and dancing around as I threw things in my suitcase in a flourish.

"_Just stay where I can see you  
Douse the lights  
We sure are in for a show tonight  
Just stay where I can see you  
Douse the lights  
We sure are in for a show tonight  
Stay where I can see you  
Douse the lights"_

"SHUT UPPPPPPPPPPP!" Came a loud voice outside of my bedroom, complete with a rapid banging on the door. "Go away! I'm packing!" I shouted back at my older brother, Squall.

"_Strike up the band  
Oh, the conductor is beckoning"_

"How about you buy some headphones and save us all!"

"_Come, congregation, and let's sing it like you mean it"_

"Why don't you just GO DEAF!"

"_No, don't you get it, don't you get it?  
Now don't you move"_

"TURN IT DOWN!"

"GO SUCK YOUR BOYFRIEND!"

"_Strike up the band  
Oh, the conductor is beckoning"_

Squall burst through the bedroom door and grabbed me by my legs, hoisting me onto his strong shoulders, ignoring my screams and laugh of surprise, and dropped me onto my bed. He then flipped the switch on the stereo, and the music silenced. I pouted as I sat in defeat on my bed.

"No fair. I wouldn't make you turn your music off if you were leaving tomorrow for a long trip!" I exclaimed. Squall huffed. "You wouldn't be able to, sucker," he shot back, and ruffled my hair. I swatted his hand away. I stood up and walked over to my huge duffle, and kicked it, before pulling on a sweatshirt.

"I'm going for a walk, I need a break," I said as I slipped on my sandals. "I'll come," Squall offered. I scrunched up my nose in a mock frown, and walked out of my door. We left the house without a word to my mother, who was on the telephone. She wouldn't care anyway.

Growing up, Squall was pretty much all I had. We were close, closer than a normal brother and sister, more like best friends. We shared everything with each other, from dates to drama to deep secrets. Squall had taken care of me since we were really little, and always came around when I needed him. Oh sure we had our rough spots, but as we got older, we simply got closer.

Squall was a sophomore at the art school on the main island, and he stilled lived with us, for my sanity more than his. Both of our parents had disapproved of his career choice, well actually my dad didn't really care… but my mom was livid. She wanted a doctor, or a lawyer as most parents seem to, and art was just not good enough for her. Squall was a kick ass photographer though, whether she liked it or not. His favorite prop was me, and we would often spend weekends going to exotic places on the island, where he would photograph me doing something random, and make amazing collages and stuff from it.

"Hey, dad called me today," Squall said, breaking the silence. "Oh? What did he want?" I asked sourly. "He wants to see you and me again. Apparently he wants to 'mend our relationship'" He said, with those little finger quotes around "mend our relationship". I snorted, "What? He hates us. Whatever. You can 'mend your relationship' all you want, but I'm going to let ours stay 'non-mended' thanks".

Squall sighed. "Oh come on Kairi. I know you hate him but maybe this time he really does care. You never know.."

"Yeah, sure. If he cares so much, why did he forget my 17th birthday last week? Why do I never get cards or anything from him at all? He's just doing it to seem like the world's 'number one dad' or whatever. I don't care to help him." I kicked a rock on the pavement to emphasize my point.

"Fine. Well I'm going to go talk to him this weekend after you leave. I'll call you to let you know how it goes, ok?" See, this was one thing I really liked about Squall. He always informed me on everything, and never made me feel left out. He really seemed to care what I thought of everything he did, which I kind of really liked. I nodded, and pulled him off the main road towards the beach. We sat down on the warm sand, and watched the sun set slowly.

"Hey Kairi?"

"Yeah?"

"Promise me that you will always keep in touch with me, when we get separated because of our hectic lives. I need to keep tabs on my little sis," Squall said. I looked at him with a bemused expression on my face. "You sound like the mom I never had," I said, grinning.

"Hey!" Squall laughed, and shoved me a little, "But promise me okay?"

"I promise."

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I sank down into the hospital chair hopelessly. How could we ever pay for this? How would we manage? This was just a great way to start the summer that I had left from getting back from Barbados. The day I had gotten back, I found a note on the kitchen counter. It read:

_Kairi,_

_I'm taking your brother to the hospital. He's been complaining of severe chest pain. Come down when you get home._

_Mom._

I hurried to the hospital as quick as I could, and found my mom in the waiting room.

"They're checking him out for lung cancer," she said with a grim look on her face. And now their suspicions had been confirmed. His cancer was so severe they needed to begin treatment immediately, requiring money that we didn't have. There was no way I was going to let Squall die though. I would do what I could so he could get his treatment.


	2. Chapter 2

I stepped off the train to Twilight Town, onto a crowded walkway full of cheerful civilians discussing daily event and exchanging funny stories. I sighed, and began to push my way through the throngs of people to find my connection. I was on my way to the City that Never Was, also known as the Dark City(in this story this is paralleled to NYC), where I had managed to land four auditions for modeling agencies. Yes, modeling agencies. When we found out the devastating news that my brother was suffering from lung cancer in its most dangerous stage, I was forced to cancel my trip with Yuffie, and find some way to make money.

I knew there was no way my family would be able to pay for Squall's treatment on our own, so I was sure going to help in any way I could. Even if that meant putting my own plans on hold to pursue something I knew nothing about.

Modeling to me was always something that was a dream. Sure I was the tall, skinny redhead with exotic purple eyes and a harsh bone structure, so agencies were practically crawling on me with opportunities, but was this something I really wanted to do? Most definitely not, but it was the quickest way to get Squall's treatment money.

I spotted my connection in the knick of time, and managed to shove my way onto the crowded train as the doors were closing. After 30 loooooong minutes of standing next to a fat man with B.O and a stellar mustache and a short squat woman with an obvious cold, I practically ran off the train onto the platform. There I was greeted with the rush of people, mostly in dark business suits or leather attire, with their briefcases and laptop bags and cups of coffee. Nobody was stopping to greet each other, like in Twilight Town, rather, they seemed more interested in shoving you out of the way than asking about your dinner party last night.

"Excuse me, but could you point me in the direction of the Burney Agency?" I asked a tall, pimply young man with a subway uniform. He looked me up and down with a bit of disgust, before gesturing towards the tallest area of buildings in the city. "It's over there, on 44th street, 14th floor of the Afilico Building, between Terrice and Smeffing."

Right.

I sighed, before making my way into the throng of people on their way to their jobs, trying my best to not be killed by the briefcases or stepped on by stiletto heels. Not bothering to hail a taxi, I walked down the cracked sidewalks, dodging the street vendors and skateboarders who seemed so keen on taking me out. So much for the city of dreams. It seemed awfully dirty and rude to me.

After asking four different people to point me to the Afilico Building, and only getting an answer other than "hmmph" from one, I still managed to find it, at 7:59. My appointment was at 8:00. Now I call that punctual.

"Can I help you?" the secretary at Burney Agency asked me, while looking me up and down with apparent disapproval. "Yes, I'm Kairi Hikaru, hear for an interview with Mrs. Dawn," I replied, trying my best to look confident. "Oh yes, right through there," she gestured to the room behind me. I walked through quickly, to find myself in a huge oval office that overlooked the bright city. A woman in a white business suit sat at the round desk by the window.

"Hello, you must be Kairi," she smiled before shaking my hand. "Hi, nice to meet you," I managed breathlessly. "Well, I've looked over your samples, and I'm extremely impressed. This photography is pure magic," she said as she flipped through my portfolio. I heart lurched as I thought of Squall. "Thank you," I said quietly. "Well now that I've seen you in person, I would love for you to join our agency. Unfortunately, the only model apartment I have available is with one of our male models, is that alright with you?" she asked. I nodded eagerly, not wanting to pass up this amazing opportunity.

Dawn smiled, and handed me a key and a schedule with contact numbers on it. "Your flat is on the 30th floor of this building, and I would like to meet with you tomorrow to begin booking, but I will give you today to get settled in and explore the city." I nodded and smiled. "Thank you," I said, before taking the keys. "Oh and your luggage arrived this morning, it's in your room," she added. Great, so I guess they were already planning on hiring me, and decided that I would be living with a guy. I loved the control I had in this situation. Sheesh.

I turned and walked out of the office with my keys and schedule. I managed to find the elevator just fine. When I reached the 30th floor, I found it pretty much deserted, aside from a housekeeper smoking in the corner. She hurried to put the joint out as I spotted her. Fabulous.

I sucked in a breath as I turned the key into my new home. The door swung open to reveal a huge floor to ceiling window overlooking the entire city, which seemed to overcompensate for the cramped kitchen and living room. The furnishings in the house were pretty basic, a couch with a plate and remote next to it, and a few bean bags, and a small fold out table crammed in the supposed "dining room", that was roughly the size of my bathroom back home. As for the bathroom, it was about the size of my closet, and covered in male products.

I glanced in the shower to find a razor and suspicious black hair clumped in the drain. Great, so not only was my roommate obsessed with his looks, but he shaved and didn't clean up after himself too. Just GREAT. I continued down the narrow hallway and came to a room with a small bed and my suitcases covering the minimal floor space. The room across the hall I assumed was my roommates, considering its rock posters and dirty socks littering the floor. With a sigh, I flopped down on the bed and promptly fell asleep.

SLAM! The sound of the front door closing startled me out of my nap. I groaned and rolled over, only to fall on the floor, more specifically, my unpacked bags which were covering my floor. Smooth, real smooth. I stood up clumsily and cautiously made my way into the living/dining room/kitchen. I came face to face with a tall, lithe guy with a mess of spiky dark brown hair and stunning blue eyes. He paused, looking at me suspiciously.

"I'm Kairi, your new roommate," I said finally, holding out my hand. He glanced at it, before pushing past me down the hallway. "Sora. Give me my space and I'll give you yours," his retreating back replied before he disappeared in his room, the door slamming. No welcome to the neighborhood? Not even a nice to meet you. Living here was going to be just peachy, I could tell. With a sigh I flopped down on the couch and pulled out my cell phone.

"Hey Yuffie"

"Hey! How's Dark City? Amazing?"

"Just fabulous. All the rude people and pollution and snobby roommates is just grand," I muttered sarcastically.

"That bad huh? Who's your roommate anyway?"

"Some guy. He pretty much came in and told me to leave him alone. And its only 10 in the morning. Give me a break."

"Hahaha. Well, I'm really sorry about this. We all miss you back home!"

"Thanks Yuffie. Bye"

"Bye!"

I sighed as I hung up the phone. I knew I should call Squall, but he may have still been in the hospital. I still couldn't believe this was happening. Since the day Squall was diagnosed, he had only gotten worse. Now he could barely stand, he was so weak. I stood up and made my way to my room. Might as well get moved in.

2 hours later, without a sound from my loving new roommate, I successfully stood between 4 empty suitcases. Now all I had to do was hang up pictures. I reached into the bag I kept all my pictures in, and pulled out a picture of me and Squall taken hardly a month ago. I hung it up right above my bed, so that when I woke up, I could remember why I had come to this hellhole in the first place.

"That your boyfriend?" came a snide voice in my doorway. I turned around to find Sora standing there with his hands on his hips, in his socks and jeans and a sad excuse for a wife-beater.

"No, it's my brother," I said, before reaching for another photo. "Oh sheesh, well soooorrrry," he replied. I looked him, a mixture of annoyance and disgust on my face.

"You know what? Its not my fault that we have to live together, and obviously we haven't hit it off, so I would love it if you would just leave me alone unless you have a legitimate reason to bother me," I said, anger in my voice. Sora looked taken aback at first, before narrowing those stunning blue eyes.

"This is fucked up. I don't want to be living with some bitch," he muttered before stalking out. Argh! What is his problem? I sighed, before going back to hanging up pictures. This was going to be one hell of a job, that's for sure.


End file.
